My friends, my heart is near bursting! I am so proud to bring you our very first Featured Dyer of the Month, The Unique Sheep. 

Part of my excitement stems from the fact that it was a beautiful skein of Unique Sheep yarn (in a colorway called Zombie) that inspired me to start the Featured Dyer of the Month in the first place. I was at the Maryland Sheep and Wool show- a great place to recharge your creative batteries- when idea sprang into my head fully formed, but it I dismissed it almost as quickly. I thought it would be too difficult organize and wasn’t sure if the indie dyers I wanted to feature would be receptive. I probably would have forgotten the idea entirely had I not run into Laura, co-owner of The Unique Sheep, at the MDSW After Party that very night.

Since that chance meeting, I’ve learned a lot about Laura and Kelly, the two women who are The Unique Sheep. They graciously and patiently answered all my questions about their work and I am thrilled to share the interview with you. (Kelly is a bit camera-shy but we do have some pictures of Laura at work in her dye studio.)

When and how did you start knitting? 

 Laura: I learned the basics of knitting, crocheting and other fiber crafts from my mom when I was very young. In high school I focused on sewing and rarely practiced my knitting or crocheting but in college I returned to knitting since it’s much easier to do in a small dorm room or apartment and is more social than sewing. I could only vaguely remember how my mom taught me to knit, so I combined those memories with what I found online or in books to develop the knitting style I have now– which is continental but not quite like anyone else!

Kelly: I learned how to crochet from my grandmother when I was very young. When I was in my early 20’s I walked into a yarn store and saw all the color and texture and wanted to be able to make anything I wanted to from all those beautiful fibers. I bought a book, a sweater pattern, and some yarn, and taught myself how to knit. The store owner did help with some questions I had, but I am mostly a self taught knitter.

How did you get into dyeing? Tell us about your initial efforts.

 Laura: I first experimented with dyeing fabric when I was doing a lot of sewing but never developed a passion for that. But when I turned my attention to knitting I became fascinated with fair isle colorwork.

Unfortunately, fairisle requires lots of little bits of different colors and my college student budget didn’t allow me to buy a dozen different colors for one pair of mittens. So I started dyeing yarn for my own use. Soon friends and customers at the LYS where I worked part time found out and started asking me to dye for them. And pretty soon The Unique Sheep was born.

Kelly: About 15 years ago we moved to North Carolina and I met Merike Saarniit, who is now my best friend and mentor, and one of the most talented fiber artists in the country.

She owned Carolina Homespun and Liisu Yarns at that time and taught me how to spin, weave, and dye. She eventually sold Carolina Homespun and did not have the time to devote to Liisu Yarns as she is very busy writing and teaching. I took over Liisu Yarns, and expanded the wholesale business, eventually getting to a point where I needed help.

I decided a partnership would be a great option and found Laura on Ravelry!

We had a 4 hour 1st time person-to-person meeting and quickly thereafter decided we were a good fit for each other. I am extremely fortunate to have found such a talented and  intelligent young woman to be my partner. (Thank you, thank you Ravelry!) We are both excited about the future of The Unique Sheep.

Knitting and dyeing are both art forms: do you prefer one over the other? Do you still knit?

Laura: To me they are such different things, and I get different benefits from each. Knitting is something that I enjoy doing while also doing otherthings– watching a movie, chatting with friends or listening to an audio book. But when I dye I am in the “zone” and hate to be interrupted. I do still knit a lot, but usually I’m testing a pattern written by one of our designers or working on a design of my own. I rarely get the chance to knit with yarns or patterns other than ours anymore!

Kelly: I do not prefer knitting over dyeing and also love to crochet, weave, rug hook, and spin. I also have dabbled in stained glass and stone mosaics. If there were more time in the day I would learn pottery and wood working too.But unfortunately there are only so many hours of awake time so most of my “spare time” is used knitting and crocheting projects that showcase Unique Sheep yarns.

The only time I am ever bored is if I am too tired to pick up a hook or needles!

 Where does you color inspiration come from? What are your favorite colors? Have you ever dyed a colorway that you didn’t like?

Laura: I find inspiration in many different places. We do a lot of custom colorways for our customers and in those cases they send us photos or color ideas. I’ve also developed many colorways based on the personalities and preferences of people I know. I’m also very affected by the seasons.

My favorite colors to wear are more subdued earth tones and greens and blues but when I’m dyeing I like them all. Even though I don’t usually wear bright colors myself, I love to dye them! I don’t think there are any colorways that we sell that I really don’t like, but my favorite colorway is usually the last one I created!

Kelly: I have to say ditto to Laura’s answer. And…All colors are my favorites, but I have dyed some combinations that I am not crazy about. Funny thing is they sometimes tend to be great sellers on our site!

My favorite color ways are from our Gradiance line. Gradiance is a dyeing process invented by me and is exclusive to The Unique Sheep. I really enjoy watching the color progressions as I stitch a project made from those yarns.

Tell me about your process. Do you have a plan before you start dyeing? How do you like to work?

Laura: It depends on the colorway. Our Gradiance colorways require a lot of pre-planning and scraps of paper full of notes. With some of my more “free form” single skein colorways I tend to just have an idea of the colors I’d like to use, or a source of inspiration I’d like to focus on, and then add a little bit of this and a little bit of that until I’m happy.

 Kelly: I really love to collaborate with our customers and retailers. They may give an idea about a color way by submitting a picture, or even a group of paint chips, or Pantone numbers. It is fun to build a color way, or Gradiance set, based on their ideas and is a thrill when they are happy with what we have dyed for them.

***

And now, without further ado, I am thrilled to present the two exclusive colorways that The Unique Sheep has created just for us. Just for you, I mean. 

Laura created this beautiful colorway we’re calling Hush. She was trying to capture the general feeling of our website, which she called  ”Bright and cheery but also calm and soothing.” I love this colorway so much that I would like a set of sheets knit from it. Hush is a worsted weight, 100% Organic Superfine Merino. Each skein is 100 grams/250 yards. 

Kelly’s contribution is equally amazing. Kelly specializes in a a dyeing technique of her own invention called “Gradience dyeing.” Here’s how Kelly describes it: “We have developed a way of dyeing yarn so that as a set of skeins is used, your project will gradually change from one hand painted color to the next. Some sets have a dramatic shift in color, and others have more subtle transition. The gradually transitioned sets will work well to show off more complicated stitch patterns and lacework because each skein is “almost” solid.”

When asked if I’d like Kelly to come up with a Gradience dye just for our shareholders my immediate response was YES PLEASE! The entire Gradience Collection is covetable. But nothing prepared me for the colorway that Kelly created for us. She started with this picture of one of our Angora Goat kids on the beach:

And here’s what she came up with just for you:

I simply don’t have words. So lovely. So very lovely.

The Gradience colorway- which we’re calling Jack’s Beach- is available as a sock set (4 x 25g skeins = 100g total) or a shawl set (6 x 50g skeins = 300g total). The sock set comes with a free pattern and simple instructions for knitting with gradience yarn. (BTW- wouldn’t the shawl be awesome on the beach!)

Both of these colorways are on sale now in our shop exclusively for you, our friends and shareholders.